MH-230 cLOUDDEAD - TenTen finds cLOUDDEAD building on all of the elements that defined their debut: razor sharp vocal interplay, quirky found sound samples, ambient drone dreamscapes, lyrics that walk the line between observational and confessional, and a fair share of nosdam drums slowed to a growl. Doseone and why? never take the cheap way out. Their lyrics may range from blurry and buried to sharp and surfaced, but each and every line has meaning. The music and production are collaborative, featuring Doseone's knack for bottling emotion, why's self-taught multi-instrumentalist efforts, and odd nosdam's flair for borrowed genius. Individually, Doseone, why? and odd nosdam are as prolific and fearless as anyone in today's new music scene, but together as cLOUDDEAD they are able to create music that captures all of the promise of their individual talents in an unequaled sound.

cLOUDDEAD's second release delivers with a colorful array of experimental hip-hop eccentricity. Featuring Anticon members, Doseone, why?, and odd nosdam sharing vocal and production duties, Ten is ten original compositions, functioning as one unapologetic patchwork mosaic of out-sound. This record should speak to those closet-genius experimental musicians that subscribe to nontraditional methods. The opening "Pop Song" is nifty with its thick layer of variable vocal tracks, but I really flipped for the following, "The Teen Keen Skip", with its skipping sample, repeated chorus breaks, and dribbling vocals. Ultimately, this record deserves many thoughtful listens though impatient non-believers will jump off this bandwagon before getting comfortably acquainted. True, it's best suited for those persevering sleuths on the path to decipher the abstract cLOUDDEAD mission: deCONSTRUCT! - Clamor